WICCAN AND HULKLING: RAID OF ULTRON #1 – Family Dynamics

“Family Matters” Creative Team – Wyatt Kennedy, Stephen Byrne

“Mixed Signals” Creative Team – Tegan Quin, Luciano Vecchio, Brittany Peer

“En Garde” Creative Team – Zoe Tunnell, Rachael Stott

“Machine Learnings” Creative Team – Josh Trujillo, Bradley Clayton, Fabi Marques

Published by Marvel Comics

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The Story

This comic review is brought to you by the dynamic duo of Megan and Shawn!

Shawn – I genuinely loved the way this issue was set up. I’m not a huge fan of anthology-style issues where there are a bunch of different writers in the issue, but this is different. With Wiccan and Hulkling: Raid of Ultron, we were treated to a complete story crafted by different writers.

This style of writing felt less like an anthology and more like a really beautiful mosaic. Wyatt Kennedy does a beautiful job setting up the overarching story and then hands it off to several really talented writers to flesh out the story. You can feel the love each writer put into their section. Tegan Quin does an amazing job in her Marvel debut. Beyond just a great story, Quin provides a really fun sibling story with Billy and Tommy. Through the story Quin provides a chance to not only see the relationship between the brothers but also their support and love for each other.

This segues nicely into another sibling story from Zoe Tunnell, capturing the relationship between Teddy and Phyla-Vell. Tunnell does a really splendid job making the story unique. You still get the same feelings you felt with Tommy and Billy, but Tunnell makes sure readers understand that Phyla-Vell and Teddy have a different but no less loving relationship. Tunnell still manages to show off how powerful the characters can be while putting relationships front and center.

Josh Trujillo brings it all home with a heartfelt story between Vision and Viv. I have to say, as the father of a daughter, this story connected with me the most. Trujillo makes you clearly feel the love Vision has for his daughter as much as a synthezoid can. The entire story was heartfelt and just a genuinely good story crafted by four talented writers.

Megan – Nothing makes me more happy than seeing Hulkling and Wiccan together, but then you add their family into the mix and I’m elated. Wiccan and Hulkling are celebrating their anniversary and what better way is there than to have a family party to celebrate? In their new house they acquired from Baba Yaga, all of their family shows up. Wanda, Vision, Quicksilver, Moondragon, Phyla-Vell, Viv, and Tommy all arrive to celebrate their family, but of course things take a turn. Showing up to crash the party is none other than Ultron, who claims he’s also a part of the family as he created Vision. According to Ultron, he’s there for Vision and Viv, but the family will absolutely not allow it.

What ensues next is a four part story of the family who have ventured off into teams of two to take down Ultron and his robots. Along with the fantastic action, we also get an up close look into the married life of Hulkling and Wiccan. We see the worries they have, the love they share, and that they’re not so different from every other married couple. The love between these two is clear and written beautifully in each chapter of the story. The writers came together and created something wonderful that’s glued together with love, love between a man and his husband, and the love the family has for each other.

The Art

Shawn – Where to start? Each artist brought their A game for this issue. Stephen Byrne, Rachael Stott, Luciano Vecchio, Brittany Peer, Bradley Clayton, and Fabi Marques all crafted beautiful visuals. The incomparable Ariana Maher tied everything together across the various stories with consistent lettering that was easy to follow and added just the right feel.

Stephen Byrne opened this issue with some really beautiful backdrops. It’s difficult to craft a setting as beautiful as the Alps in a way that feels authentic, but Byrne nails it. While the character art is magnificent, Byrne’s work really stands out for the attention to detail you can find in the panels. Whether it’s the wrinkles in a flower petal or the pattern seen on wallpaper in the background, Byrne really locks in and provides beautiful detailed work.

Luciano Vecchio and Brittany Peer take over from Byrne on the second story and elevate the art even more. Vecchio, as always, shows great attention to detail, carrying on what Byrne opened with, and the pairing with Peer provides panels that are really well done. Vecchio provides really acute detail in the characters in his panels, with the magic usage being particularly well drawn. Peer uses the cool color palette for the setting to really make everything from the magic to Ultron pop off the pages.

Rachel Stott crafts perhaps the most fun story of the series through her panels. The way Stott draws and colors the scenes really brings you into the panels and makes you feel warm. While the words capture the seriousness of Phyla-Vell and Teddy’s conversation, Stott’s art shows you that they’re still having fun. The battle feels almost secondary. It’s just another day at the office for these two and Stott makes it clear through the emotion expressed in the characters that their love and care for each other is paramount to yet another battle with Ultron.

Bradley Clayton and Fabi Marques wrap it up with the final story. They manage to perfectly capture one of my favorite settings in all of the Marvel universe. One of the things Clayton does really well in this story is capturing Viv and Vision. As both are synthezoids, you’re not exactly expecting them to be dripping with emotion, but Clayton helps the characters be expressive while still in the context of what you would expect from a synthetic being. Marques does a stellar job with colors, really making Viv in particular jump off the page with her bright, contrasting colors. Through all of the art is the unsung hero of the issue, letterer Ariana Maher. Through several writers and artists, Maher is the constant line that the story all ties to ensuring a thread of consistency that carries across different styles.

Megan – The artwork of Wiccan and Hulkling: Raid of Ultron #1 was absolutely glorious, all thanks to the many artists of the comic. The creative team is stacked, so it’s guaranteed that the art would be fabulous. With artists like Luciano Vecchio, Rachel Slott, Stephen Byrne, or Bradley Clayton, each chapter is beautifully detailed, with the characters telling the stories themselves through their facial expressions. There is a great amount of action in each chapter that puts a spotlight on the characters’ powers such as Viv or Wiccan. Ultron looks menacing and fits in with the other characters extremely well.

What really sold the art for me was the coloring of the chapters. With an excellent mixture of darker tones with bright colors, each page is an absolute masterpiece. You really couldn’t have picked a better group of artists to take on this story. Each one brought something new to the pages and the readers will benefit from it heavily.

Final Thoughts

Shawn – 10/10 I would love to see more of this type of story from these teams. Not only is this a really fun set of stories, but it’s also a fun look at the WILD family dynamic at play when Teddy and Billy’s families get together. No matter which story you are reading, you can really tell that every writer and artist working on this issue put everything they had into their portion. The story flows well while maintaining unique aspects of each writer and artist.

Megan – 10/10. Wiccan and Hulkling: Raid of Ultron is filled with action, family dynamics, and a whole lot of heart. The creative team knocked this out of the park!

Overall Grade – 10/10

Let us know in the comments what you thought of Wiccan and Hulkling: Raid of Ultron #1!